Do You Have a Far-Ahead Kindergarten Reader? Advice Wanted

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

At 3rd grade, does differentiation occur outside the gifted and talented programs? Or is differentiation only available to those who succeed in entering the gifted and talented programs?

I'm 18:31 above. Even before 3rd, there was differentiation. It just wasn't high enough IMO. That is, my DD was in the top reading group, but the span of reading abilities of the kids in her group was pretty wide. So there might be kids reading 1 grade level above to kids reading 3-4 levels above.

There is still differentiation going on at each level. The third grade has reading groups, etc. Just based on talking to other parents at my school, the ones with kids who were reading around grade level seemed to be pretty happy with the program.

Thanks for the info. I gather though that if your child is working above-grade-level, and you want appropriate above-grade-level differentiation, then you really need to be in the gifted and talented program to get it. Is that correct?

[Anonymous]

This has been our experience.

As a PP said, this will vary school to school. Some schools have more resources (parent volunteers, teachers willing to go the extra mile, PTAs with more funds for more book selections) than others, so I know that others have had different experiences. But I think that our experience is pretty common.

We are FCPS, so it is different. I'm not sure how MCPS handles differentiation in upper grades if your kid does not get into the magnet programs via lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the other posters -- this type of differentiation does happen in most public school districts but not until about 3rd grade, when the official Talented and Gifted programs (or center schools) start.

At 3rd grade, does differentiation occur outside the gifted and talented programs? Or is differentiation only available to those who succeed in entering the gifted and talented programs?

IMO it is all about cohort of peer group, for both ends of instruction. If your child is the only one, or just one of 2 reading or doing math at his level (whether significantly ahead or significantly behind) it is just going to very hard for a teacher to provide consistent instruction at his grade level, just for him and one other child. However, if you child is one of 7, it would be much harder for the teacher to ignore the needs of that whole cohort.

So if your child is very ahead of his or her age, and is in a school with a lot of other kids at the same level, you can expect differentiation to happen earlier. If you child is the only one, higher level work probably won't happen until she is pulled out for the center school where she will finally have a similar cohort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
So if your child is very ahead of his or her age, and is in a school with a lot of other kids at the same level, you can expect differentiation to happen earlier. If you child is the only one, higher level work probably won't happen until she is pulled out for the center school where she will finally have a similar cohort.

9:59 here. But higher level work may be offered to an individual--not a cohort--if the school and its administration does show a concern for meeting individual needs, as I noted on the first page. DC has been the only child pulled out for specific reading groups because that is what the testing and consultation suggest would be best. This is possible if the people in charge care. We picked this MoCo school in part because they seemed more amenable to differentiation based on individual needs. If others aren't getting proper differentiation, I'd encourage more advocacy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
So if your child is very ahead of his or her age, and is in a school with a lot of other kids at the same level, you can expect differentiation to happen earlier. If you child is the only one, higher level work probably won't happen until she is pulled out for the center school where she will finally have a similar cohort.

9:59 here. But higher level work may be offered to an individual--not a cohort--if the school and its administration does show a concern for meeting individual needs, as I noted on the first page. DC has been the only child pulled out for specific reading groups because that is what the testing and consultation suggest would be best. This is possible if the people in charge care. We picked this MoCo school in part because they seemed more amenable to differentiation based on individual needs. If others aren't getting proper differentiation, I'd encourage more advocacy.

I agree -- I guess what I am saying is that if your child is one of 8, you probably won't have to advocate very hard; differentiation will very likely happen. If your child is the only one at his or her level, you will probably have to be very proactive. It isn't so much a matter of how far above grade level your child is. If your child is the only child working two years above grade level in a school where the majority of the kids are two years below, he'll have trouble getting proper instruction. If that same child, same level, same school district and same curriculum, is in a school where the majority are on grade level, and 8 are a year or two above, appropriate instruction will probably be provided.

It is a rare school that will differentiate for just one child without a lot of parent insistence and advocacy -- sounds like you found one, and/or were a good advocate!

[Anonymous]

NP here. My DC read middle-school level novels before he went into kindergarten (along with other advanced skills). MCPS just didn't have any way to address this (or really,they weren't willing to) until he was admitted to one of the highly gifted centers in 4th grade. This meant four years of MCPS where he was absolutely miserable.

If I had it to do over again I would do a private school with very small classrooms and flexibility like a Montessori school, and then apply for the HG Center for 4th grade.

[Anonymous]

Private schools aren't a panacea. My 2nd grade private school teacher simply wouldn't believe I read a certain famous Victorian novel, which I won't name because some of you may know me and this story Needless to say, I did this and other advanced reading outside my private school 2nd grade class.

[Anonymous]

Montessori is cool, but I wouldn't expect even most MOotessori schools to know what to do with a child who can read middle school novels in K. My experience with Montessrori has been that kids work at their own pace, but withing the expected Montessori curriculum.

[Anonymous]

19:59 Montessori allows kids to work at their own pace, thus I believe they would be able to in theory accommodate a child so far ahead.

This thread has me nervous. My son is also an advanced reader - not quite as much as middle school novel but he can read chapter books like Magic Tree House and will start K in the fall. I've talked to the school and other parents and have great hopes he will have a positive school experience next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child is in FCPS, not MCPS so it may be different, but at our school language arts is more than reading. Is his writing/spelling also above grade level? If so, it may be appropriate to work with the 1st grade class. But if only his reading is above level, then he may be appropriately placed for the other aspects of language arts. My child is in this situation. Her reading is much better than her writing and spelling.

NP here. My K child was also in that position, having reading skills above writing and spelling. This was handled by sending her to first grade for reading only, not for the whole language arts block. What I'm finding is that she's starting to level out with reading, writing and spelling. Has anybody been successful in getting their child moved to the next grade for the whole language arts block? The problem with going only for 30 minutes is that the grade schedules don't always match due to testing or other reasons. On those days she doesn't go, but the language arts block is sometimes made up later in the day for the first graders and she misses it. So while we're lucky that the school offered acceleration (and by the way I did not have to go and request it, it was provided without me having to request) I am finding that it's not a perfect solution.

[Anonymous]

anyone willing to name dc elementaries that handle this well? my son will be in k next year and i'm a bit worried about how it will be. he's reading now, has been for almost two years. i've never had him tested so i have no idea if he's just ahead or quite advanced. he's not sitting down with a 100 page novel but he can read the easy readers. he can also write quite alot and seems to have a good grasp of alot of math/number concepts. i credit montessori for introducing alot of that before i even thought of doing it. when i visited my local elementary kindergarden, it seemed to me he has already done most of what they were doing. i'm considering leaving him at his montessori another year since they advance him at his own pace (he seems to be ahead of most of the other kids)...but i'm not sure what 1st grade will be like either. it may be that many kids in dc are ahead.

[Anonymous]

OP, I was very far ahead in reading as a child, and my parochial school solved the problem by giving me books at my level to read by myself. I didn't need "instruction" per se as much as being provided with interesting material that would keep reading fun. I don't know what the "levels" are but I was reading (with comprehension) at 3, and reading Nancy Drew novels in K. I still love to read.

[Anonymous]

For those children who are slightly ahead of their peers, I think private is a good option, but it is not a panacea for the really brilliant children (for the moment, I'll put aside the discussion about whether parents are always correct about whether their child is truly brilliant). From what I've seen on this board, I think privates (because they are selective) can generally work at a level above that of the public schools (the "homework" books my dc has in K are not chapter books, but are way past the "easy reader" stage), and can differentiate within a certain range. However, I had an AD from a very well respected private school tell me they avoid admitting the "off the charts" bright children because they simply don't have the resources to accommodate their learning needs. They are looking for children on the "bright" end of the scale, but within a certain range.

[Anonymous]

One thing we noticed in MoCo is that if a school is on the brink with NCLB tests, they won't focus so much on the advanced kids. A school that is struggling with NCLB is a school that is consumed with pushing the kids who are on the margins over the top of the test, and maybe getting a few failing kids to do better on NCLB too. The school knows that kids who are above-grade will do well on the NCLB tests in any case, so a struggling school won't worry so much about them.

This is consistent with the arguments some PPs have made earlier, that the degree of MoCo support varies greatly by school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is in a public MoCo school. He started the year reading mid-2nd grade level; as of now, he's been assessed as reading and comprehending at the end of 3rd grade. He's also ahead in all other areas, but not as far. Currently, our school isn't doing much for him. For instance, he still comes home with K sight words and typical K connect the dots. We've got a P-T conference set up for next week. I have to presume that others of you are in this kind of a situation. How are your schools addressing your far-advanced child's needs? I'm looking for ideas that I can come to the table with next week, particularly ones that other MoCo schools are using as fodder for discussion.

Thanks.

Is your son as ahead socially as acedemically? How about his fine motor skills? Perhaps this can be more of a focus for him. Could you advocate for him to skip a grade?

Also, if he is this far advanced get him tested and then an IEP which would then require advanced work.